The future is looking bright for UK SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) online retailers with 70% saying they experienced an uplift in sales in 2017 compared to the previous year and 74% expressing confidence that sales will increase in 2018, according to a study commissioned by Royal Mail.

The health and beauty sector saw the highest increase in sales with 78%, followed by electronics (73%). Increasing their social media presence (43%), running more promotional offers (39%) and introducing new products/services (29%) are the main ways retailers are planning to achieve growth in 2018.

The main concerns for UK SME online retailers in 2018 are the ability to make a profit (27%), increase sales (26%) and reduce costs (23%). 69% of retailers expect costs to be higher in 2018 and the biggest costs expected are purchasing (34%), logistics/delivery (32%) and advertising (27%).